While TNG received a multi-million dollar, painstaking manual remaster to 1080p (and later 4K upscales), DS9 was left behind. The reason? Economics. TNG was shot on 35mm film (easy to rescan) but edited on video tape. DS9 (and Voyager) were shot on film but had their visual effects (CGI ships, phaser fire, Dominion bugs) rendered in standard definition (480i). To remaster DS9 properly would mean rebuilding every VFX shot from scratch—a cost CBS deemed too high for a “serialized” show that didn’t sell as well in syndication.
9/10 Worth the hard drive space? Absolutely. Just make room for the next six seasons. star+trek+deep+space+9+s01+ai+upscale+4k+2020+better
Enter the fans. Specifically, the for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 1 . Using neural networks, machine learning, and the bleeding edge of consumer-grade AI upscaling (Topaz Video Enhance AI, ESRGAN, and custom models), a dedicated community achieved what a studio wouldn’t: a native 4K version that, in many ways, is better than a traditional remaster. TNG was shot on 35mm film (easy to